Ab Workout At Home With 5 Powerful Exercises You've Never Seen Before

This may surprise you, but the majority of ab workouts are not effective.

For both men and women, we hold the majority of our belly fat near our waist, yet most ab workouts briefly exercise, or completely neglect the waist, lower abs, and hip flexor muscles.

In this article, I’ll introduce you to 5 ab exercises for both men and women that are so effective they can reduce the time you spend working on your abs, and really target the lower abs and hip flexors at the same time.

Used together, these exercises target your middle abs, obliqes, and lower abs for a thorough fat-blasting, muscle toning, and fun experience. Here are the exercises…

Spider lunge with push up

Scissor legs with one leg and same arm

Alternating single leg V-hold

Speed knee kick

Low plank plange​

​

​5 Ab Exercises That Could Give You A Flat Stomach Fast

Whether you incorporate theses ab moves in a current routine or together in one giant set, you can create a workout that’s effective at home or the gym. Without further delay, lets discuss the first exercise.

Spider lunge with push up​The reason this exercise is so effective is because it will work your abs, obliques, shoulders, core, and hip flexors together in one powerful movement. You start in a plank position, with your hands underneath your shoulders. Complete a push up, and at the top of the push up, bring your right foot as close as possible to the outside of your right hand. Pause for a second, lower your leg, complete a push up, and repeat on the left side. Repeat for 10 reps.

​Scissor Legs With One Leg And Same Arm​You might be familiar with scissor legs or alternating leg raises while lying down. However, this variation will leave your abs burning like never before. Lie on the ground with both feet slightly off the floor. While keeping your right leg straight, lift it up towards the ceiling. At the same time, bring your right arm up and toward your right foot. You’re essentially trying to touch your right hand and right foot together while keeping each straight. For a modified, slightly easier version, keep your left foot on the ground. This movement is a powerful variation of alternating leg raises that you’ll feel throughout your core, and make you want to stop after 2 reps. Continue for 10 reps, then repeat on the left side.​

Alternating Single Leg V Hold​Another great movement that targets your hip flexors, this one is best used with a combination of a static and dynamic leg movement. You start with while sitting down, leaning slightly back. Bend your legs in front, and place your feet flat on the ground. Straighten one leg and bring it up to the height of the other knee. Hold for several seconds. For a more difficult move, repeatedly move the leg up and down 8-10 times, then hold at the top for 10 seconds.

​Speed Knee Kick​This exercise targets your lower abs and hip flexors and you’ll feel the burn seconds after you begin the movement. Standing upright, bend your right leg and bring your knee up at a 90 degree angle. While maintaining that position, repeatedly straighten and bend your leg at a rapid pace. Perform 10-15 reps then repeat with your left leg.​

​Low Plank Plange​This movement is almost like a reverse crunch. It targets your middle to upper abs and creates a burn like you’ve never felt before…it’s a powerful exercise. Its almost like the popular dolphin ab exercise, but modified. You start in a low plank, with your elbows and forearms on the ground. You then push slightly back towards your feet while focusing on bringing your upper back to the ceiling. Almost like doing a crunch in a low plank position. The emphasis has to be on lifting your upper back to the ceiling to really feel the movement. Lower and repeat for 10 reps.​

​The Secret To These Exercises And Why They’re So Effective

The majority of ab workouts only target two parts of the abs, the obliques and the rectus abdominis muscles. The rectus abdominis muscles are those main abs we’re all familiar with along the front of the stomach. The obliques are the muscles on either side of the stomach.​However, the muscles that tend to get overlooked in an ab workout are the hip flexors. The hip flexor muscles are an important part of maintaining core strength and are the most visually impressive, yet too often overlooked. Their primary responsibility is allowing the legs or knees upward toward your torso, and giving you stability when you bend at the hip. But, what’s really important to you is that they create the abdominal “v” shape sculpted from the combination of a good diet and right ab exercises.

​The reason why these exercises are so important is that they primarily target the hip flexors and most abdominal workouts tend to overlook this important part of the abs. The majority of ab workouts will give you a strong rectus abdominis, especially those closer to your chest, but often neglect the area we need strengthened the most, the lower abs. I love the exercises listed above, but this website includes some great hip flexor exercises as well, and further discusses the importance of these muscles. Or, for those looking for more simple exercises here are some ab workouts for beginners.

A Quick Story On How To Double The Effectiveness Of These Ab Exercises

Several years ago I used to see this guy at the guy every day. We never talked, but in between sets I would watch him bust his ass on the treadmill, free weights, and finish his workout with an intense ab routine.

No, I’m not a creepy stalker, I just couldn’t help but notice this guy every day because I was there just as frequently, and he had a very distinct beer belly.​He was probably in his late 30’s or early 40’s, overweight, and had a large gut. However, despite this, he seemed determined to lose weight and get in shape. He worked and sweated harder than most people in the gym.

But…over several months, he never appeared to have lost weight. His physique, as far as I could tell never changed, despite his months of really hard work.

Then, one day I overheard him talking to another guy at the gym about their weekend. I don’t remember the context of the converstation, but I do remember him talking about what he ate the previous day, weekend, or whatever it was. I was shocked to hear him talk about eating a lot of fast food and drinking, like it was a normal part of his everyday eating habit.Then it occurred to me that this guy, for as dedicated as he was in the gym, especially his ab workouts, he totally neglected his diet. That was why he never appeared to have lost any weight over several months.​It’s so cliché, but very true that abs are made in the kitchen. The ab exercises above are really effective, but even better if you have a clean diet. In fact there’s even been studies that show that abdominal exercises have no significance to even losing belly fat!

Combine This Ab Workout At Home With A Great Diet For Serious Results

I wish I could take credit for creating those powerful exercises above, but they are the creation of Shaun T and Tony Horton, popular Beachbody trainers. Tony is responsible for creating the low plank plange, and Shaun T, the other exercises.Those exercises are part of the “cardio abs” workout in Shaun T’s popular Beachbody program T25.

​Having completed a few of his programs, including the T25 program, I’ve discovered that Shaun T is a master of lower ab and hip flexor workouts. He truly understands the importance of this abdominal muscle group to not only physical performance, but appearance too. Developing lower abs and strong hip flexors will give you the “V”-shaped abs we all want.

The cardio abs workout in T25 not only contains those exercises, but it combines them with cardio movements in a 25 minute intense and effective workout. Whether you do this cardio ab workout by itself or the entire T25 progam, having a great diet will get you some serious abs.

So the next time you sit down and try to knock out some crunches or sit-ups, stop and give these exercises a try. You’ll find they’re a lot more engaging, effective, and simply fun.